Ever since abortion rights were first guaranteed to women in the U.S. Supreme Court's 1973 landmark case of Roe v. Wade, social conservatives have lobbied Congress to adopt legislative restrictions on those rights. With the GOP now in control of both houses of Congress and the White House, legislative restrictions on abortion rights appear attainable. On this vote, House GOP leaders sought passage of a rule governing debate on a bill which would ban the medical procedure known as a late-term (or "partial birth") abortion (prior to House floor consideration of legislation, a rule drafted by the House Rules Committee-which in effect is an arm of the majority party leadership-must be adopted to set parameters on debate). Progressives opposed the rule based on their objections to the underlying legislation. In the view of Progressives, women should have the right to choose whether or not to have an abortion; a woman's body, they argued, should not be controlled by legislation. Republicans voted unanimously in favor of the rule and the measure was adopted on a 280-138 vote.